D-backs chase Garcia early in 7-2 win over Cardinals

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis left-hander Jaime Garcia knew he was in for a long day even before he took the mound in Sunday's 7-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I didn't feel good warming up before the game," he said.

Once he got on the hill, things got even worse.

Garcia (3-4) gave up five runs and 10 hits and lasted just 2 1/3 innings. He failed to complete three innings for just the third time in 126 starts. It was his shortest outing since a two-inning stint on June 12, 2012, at Houston.

"Coming out of the game in the third inning, you never want to do that," Garcia said. "It's definitely a long time you have to think about it."

Garcia, who was 5-0 in six starts against Arizona going into the game, faced just 16 batters.

"I've got to figure out if there's something I need to do different between starts," Garcia said.

Rookie reliever Matt Bowman followed Garcia and gave up two runs and three hits in a career-high 3 2/3 innings. He retired eight of the first nine batters he faced.

"I was just trying to get the job done," Bowman said, "Today was more of an eat-up innings scenario. I would have liked to have kept it a little closer. I'm happy I got to throw a few innings."

Arizona right-hander Zack Greinke threw eight strong innings to improve to 11-4 against the Cardinals.

Paul Goldschmidt drove in a pair of runs and Michael Bourn added three hits for Arizona, which has won four of six.

The Diamondbacks won a series in St. Louis for the first time since April 18-20, 2003.

"I felt like I was mixing things up [well], making better pitches," Greinke said.

Brandon Moss homered for the Cardinals, who fell to 3-3 on their nine-game homestand.

Greinke (5-3), who has won five of his past six starts, allowed five hits and one run. He struck out seven and walked one.

The reigning NL ERA champion also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third.

"He's a tough pitcher to beat when he gets run support like that," Bourn said. "We kept adding on and making it a little easier for him."

Arizona scored three runs in the first off Garcia.

Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury had run-scoring hits in the first. Goldschmidt pushed the lead to 4-0 with an RBI hit in the second.

Bourn, who has five hits over his past two games, singled in each of the first two innings. Arizona had 13 hits -- 11 singles.

The Diamondbacks, who had lost 11 of their previous 14 games at Busch Stadium, were pleased to get out of St. Louis with their first series win in 13 years.

"Year-in, year-out, they've got a great team, and that makes this even better," Bourn said. 'We came to play today and I think it showed."

Moss hit his eighth homer of the season in the fourth inning.

Tough outing

Garcia threw 54 pitches and recorded only one swing and miss. That came on his 46th pitch.

Trainer's room

Cardinals: Jhonny Peralta went 0-for-2 in a rehab assignment with Class A Peoria on Saturday. Peralta is recovering from thumb surgery in March.

Up next

Diamondbacks: Right-hander Shelby Miller (1-5, 6.64) will face left-hander Francisco Liriano (3-3, 4.63) in the first of a three-game series at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Miller has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his past seven starts.

Cardinals: Right-hander Adam Wainwright (4-3, 5.92) takes on John Lackey (4-2, 3.31) in the first game of a three-game set tonight.